Chapter 9

Memory and Colton emerged from the airport and looked down the long, covered drive where people were being picked up from their flights. Colton raised his arm and then turned to her.

“You have everything?”

“Yep.”

He grabbed their overnight bags and started for the curb. Memory followed and in seconds a big double-cab truck pulled up. A man nearly as tall as Colton with the same dark hair and features similar enough to announce their kinship got out.

“Gotta say this is a surprise,” the man said to Colton. “Two visits in one year?” He then looked at Memory. His brow furrowed a bit and then he smiled. “Hey, I’m Cam. Colton’s younger and obviously much better-looking brother.”

Memory grinned. “Hi, Cam. I’m Memory.”

Cam’s smile faded. “You look really familiar, but I know I’ve never met anyone named Memory. Well, maybe you just remind me of someone. It’ll come to me. But let’s get loaded up.”

Colton stowed the luggage in the back seat and started to climb in, but Memory wiggled her way in front of him. “I’ll take the back seat.”

“You sure.”

“Absolutely.”

Colton got into the front passenger seat and Cam pulled away from the curb. “So, you were kind of vague on the phone about the reason for the visit. Something happen with Jed and his family?”

“No, they’re hanging in. Matter of fact, Jesse and Mik are competing at the Silver Spurs in Kissimmee next month so if you and the family are free, I’m sure they’d appreciate the support. And maybe a place to crash.”

“No problem,” Cam said and looked over his shoulder at Memory. “Sorry, that was rude. Jed Nash and his family are friends from the Carolinas. His wife Mik—Mikayla—is a two-time national champion barrel racer and Jesse holds the all-around cowboy for the last three years running.”

“Rodeo people?” Memory asked, her interest piqued. She’d never photographed that sort of thing, but it sounded interesting.

“Yeah, and damn nice people.” He turned his attention back to Colton. “So, if it isn’t Jed…”

Colton cut a look back at Memory before answering. “Actually, we wanted to talk to Ellie and her brother.”

“Eldric?” Cam looked up in the rearview mirror at Memory and then at his brother. “I’m guessing this isn’t ranch talk?”

Colton shook his head. “We have some questions.”

“About what?”

“Dark Fae,” Memory answered.

Cam was quiet for at least a minute, staring at the road ahead. She leaned forward to put her hand on Colton’s shoulder. He covered it with his and squeezed. “I take it that’s a sore subject?” Memory asked when no one else spoke.

“Let’s just say that Eldric takes some getting used to.” Cam replied.

Memory didn’t know how to respond to that comment. Everyone was silent for a good ten minutes. Finally, Colton broke the silence. “Okay, here’s the deal, little brother.

“When I was eighteen and enlisted, Anthony’s mother, Mirriam, gave me a crystal. Looked like one of those little quartz things you see that people put on necklaces. She made me promise to wear it and told me that one day it’d lead me to my destiny.”

“And you bought into that?” Cam asked with a laugh then sobered at the look Colton delivered. “Sorry, I know you and Ms. Tosta have been tight since you were kids.”

“She’s family.” Colton said. “And I did what she asked. Never gave it much thought until recently. A couple of days ago, I was headed back to the ranch after visiting Mirriam and the damn thing delivered a shock that nearly lifted me out of my seat.”

“Say what?” Cam looked at him.

“Yeah, exactly.” Colton agreed. “Strangest thing I ever felt. But I put it out of my mind. At least until the next day when Mirriam called me and asked if I could take a look at a woman’s car that had broken down near her place in town.”

“And knowing you, you dropped what you were doing and headed over.”

“Yep. So, I get there, and Memory is with her. The minute I looked at her that damn crystal started sending off shocks or bursts of energy. I don’t know what to call it, but the damn thing felt like it was trying to electrocute me.”

“Now that’s just spooky.” Cam remarked.

“Even stranger is the fact that I had an identical crystal that was given to me the day I was adopted. The lady who cared for me in the orphanage gave it to me and told me to never remove it because it was going to lead me where I was supposed to go.” Memory added. “And my crystal was behaving the same way.”

Cam looked back at her. “Seriously? So, what did you do?”

Memory chuckled. “Hmmm, maybe I’ll let your brother take that question.”

“Oh?” Cam looked at Colton.

“Let’s just say that Memory and I got to know one another, and it caused the crystals to fuse.”

“Hold on,” Cam said. “Fuse? So, what, you met, exchanged names and suddenly they just ripped off your necks and…fused?”

Memory couldn’t help but laugh, particularly at the expression on Colton’s face. “Well, that would have been dramatic, but no. They fused when we had sex. I mean I didn’t see it happen but when I tried to get off Colton our crystals had fused together.”

Cam looked at his brother and then up at her in the rearview mirror and broke out in a laugh. “Well shit, that’s one for the books. You must be something, old man.”

Memory laughed out loud. “Oh, hell yes,” she agreed then sobered. “But that’s beside the point. Colton asked Mirriam about the crystals and she told him that if we could combine our abilities the way the crystals fused then we’d have sort of a weapon against Dark Fae.”

Cam’s head jerked up and his eyes met hers in the reflection of the rear-view mirror. “She used those words?”

“Actually, she said my new sister-in-law had given me the answer to who the abilities could be effective against.” Colton answered, drawing Cam’s attention to him.

“Shit on a stick,” Cam said.

“And that’s not all,” Memory said. “Tell him, Colton.”

Colton cut a look over his shoulder at her and she bristled. “Don’t give me that look. He’s your brother and he needs to know.”

Colton looked at Cam. “I left Memory at the ranch while I went to see Mirriam and while I was gone someone showed up. Someone who looked just like me.”

Cam frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Exactly like him,” Memory added her two cents. “It was his behavior that gave him away and when I tried to get away from him, he got rough. I don’t know what he’d have done if Colton hadn’t shown up.”

“So, what happened when you got there?” Cam asked Colton.

“He vanished.”

“Vanished?”

“Yeah. Poof, gone.”

“This is too weird.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Colton agreed. “But that’s not all. Mirriam said Memory and I needed to combine our abilities. So, we-we tried.”

“What kind of abilities?”

“Your brother can project energy,” Memory answered when Colton did not. “And I can…uh, I can kind of manifest things into being.”

“You want to try that again?” Cam asked.

“Ok, sorry. If I can picture something clear enough in my mind, I can cause it to show up on things—a piece of paper, camera film, a memory card, or a hard drive. And sometimes I can project those things into the real world—sort of like ghosts or something—not entirely substantial. Colton had me try and manifest an arrow and I did. He was able to push it with remarkable speed.”

Cam shook his head. “Damn, life gets more freaking woo woo every day.”

This time Colton laughed. “Amen, brother.”

“So, you could do this energy thing all along?” Cam asked. “And you never told us?”

“Not something I really wanted anyone to know,” Colton replied. “Actually, not something I really want to accept.”

“And now?”

“And now someone or something has invaded my home and threatened the woman I lo—”

Cam and Memory both sucked in a breath at Colton’s statement. For a few seconds there was silence and then Cam reached over and gave his brother’s shoulder a squeeze. “Well miracles do happen, don’t they big brother?”

Colton looked back at Memory and then at Cam and finally he smiled. “Yeah, I guess they do.”

“So, some Dark Fae or whatever invaded your home and hit on your woman and you’re ready to take names and kick ass,” Cam said. “Is that about right?”

“You got it.” Colton replied.

“Well, hell, why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Cam joked. “You know there’s nothing us Marsh boys like better than kicking ass. And then there’s Lil. She’s hell with that fire thing now. Deadly. Oh, and Ellie can do some of that energy thing, only hers is kinda like lightning.

“Eldric, her brother, he says Lily is part Fae—an elemental. Fire element. Same with Ellie, only she’s air or something.” He looked back at Memory. “Not that I totally buy into all that you know, but it’s what he says.”

“And you’d discount it, of course, since he stepped through some circle of light from another plane of existence.” Memory quipped.

“He told you?” Cam looked at Colton.

“I did.”

“Well, well,” Cam grinned. “You must be one hell of a woman Memory, for this old man to have fallen so hard and so fast.”

“That she is,” Colton said and looked back at Memory.

“I do believe I’m going to like your family, Colton.” Memory said. “Shame this one is already taken. I bet I could get him national exposure in under thirty days.”

“Excuse me?” Cam asked.

“She’s a photographer,” Colton said. “According to Mirriam, one of the most famous and sought after in the world. They say she has the ‘magic eye,’ and all the top models and companies are after her.”

“Really?” Cam asked.

Memory shrugged. “It’s no big deal. But you? You could make serious bank with your looks, and I do mean serious.”

Cam laughed. “Thanks for the compliment but I can’t see anyone paying to have my mug on anything. Well, here we are.”

Memory turned her attention to the view outside the truck as they turned onto a paved drive beside a big sign that read “Marsh Ranch.”

“Oh, this is beautiful,” she exclaimed as they proceeded down the drive. “I so want to shoot this. And…holy shit. Who’s that?”

Cam and Colton both laughed. “That’s our brother Clint,” Cam said. “The one with the hat. The other one is Ellie’s brother Eldric.”

“Holy mother of god,” Memory breathed. “Your family definitely was blessed in the looks department. Are any of you ugly?”

Colton laughed heartily at the question. “Well, there is that one cousin, Randy.”

Memory punched him in the shoulder. “Smart ass.”

Cam stopped the truck and they all piled out. Cliff stopped pulling bales of hay off the back of the pick-up and walked over to them. “Twice in one year,” he bumped fists with Colton. “A record.”

He then looked at Memory. “Hey, I’m Cliff.”

“Memory Wells,” she extended her hand. “And it’s a pleasure.”

“Same here.” He shook her hand and then gestured to the house. “Lily and Ellie are inside, getting started on dinner. Ric and I are just gonna finish unloading…”

“Elyssa?”

Memory turned in the direction of the voice. The dark-haired man she’d seen working with Clint stood there. “Pardon?” She asked.

He approached and stopped just inches away, so close that she could feel the heat pouring off his body. Memory looked up, meeting eyes that were almost too clear a blue to be natural, but eyes that were all too familiar as they matched her own. Something pinged in her mind, there was no other description for it—it was like the peal of a bell, clear and soft reverberating through her mind.

“Elyssa.” He reached out and put his hand on the side of her face. “You’re alive.”

His touch sent a new sensation rocketing through her, something so powerful that it stole her ability to speak or move. Or stay conscious.

Colton caught Memory as her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped. “What did you do?” he barked at Eldric.

“I meant no harm,” Eldric insisted, following behind Colton as he headed for the house with Memory in his arms.

“Stay the hell away from her,” Colton growled.

Eldric looked at Cam who walked beside him. “I would not harm her, Cliff. She is our sister.”

Clint and Cam stopped dead in their tracks and stared at him. “What do you mean she’s your sister?” Clint asked. “That’s impossible. She’s…” He looked at Cam.

Cam thought about the conversation they’d had on the way from the airport. “I’m not saying she is, but—” He looked at Eldric. “She did say she spent the first part of her life in an orphanage.”

“She is our sister,” Eldric insisted. “Our father had her hidden with a trusted friend and when the portal closed, she was trapped here. She grew up without us. Like Ellie, she does not know who she is.”

“Oh hell, here we go again,” Clint groused.

Cam slapped him on the back. “Just another day in the life of the Marsh clan, bro. Come on, let’s get inside.”

Together, they hurried the rest of the way to the house.